People Moves
Vestra Recruits Technical Consultant From AXA
Vestra Wealth, the London and Jersey-based wealth manager, has appointed David Lane as business development technical director – a hire which the firm says underlines its commitment to partnering with IFAs.
Lane was latterly senior technical consultant at AXA, a role he had held for eleven years.
In his new post Lane will focus on helping Vestra Wealth’s IFA partners to grow their businesses, advising them on ways to improve their client service and compete effectively with larger players, the firm said in a statement.
The forthcoming Retail Distribution Review has prompted a number of firms to make moves to help IFAs cope with the package of reforms.
Last month AXA Wealth launched a new online support hub to help advisors with the RDR, offering information, guides and video content under four banners – “Start”, “Build”, “Implement” and “Grow” – to cater to advisors at all stages of RDR transition.
Also in September, Charles Derby, the UK advisory firm, threw what it called “a lifeline” to advisors who have yet to meet upcoming mandatory qualification requirements in the shape of a new supervisory offering.
Under the regulator’s Retail Distibution Review programme of reforms, UK advisors will have to be qualified at QCF Level 4 from 1 January 2013 (the previous minimum was Level 3). However, there is a loophole whereby advisors who achieved Competent Adviser Status or began practicing between 30 June 2009 and 31 December 2010 can get a six-month extension and continue practising in the interim – provided they are directly supervised by a qualified party.
Charles Derby said that it is the first advisory firm to put a system in place to help those advisors that qualify for this extension and it has capacity to help up to 50 advisors in this way.
Of course, there are big benefits for firms helping IFAs with their RDR transition, especially since many advisors are opting to outsource elements of their business, like investment management, to obviate the need for exhaustive investment research and spend more time with clients.
